It's Instagram's Fault Photos Shared Through Twitter Look Bad

Instagram pictures shared on Twitter have looked weird lately. Filters and subject matter aside, there’s an issue that’s making photos look improperly cropped and off-center. It’s annoying, and makes the cross-platform experience bad — and it’s all because Instagram revoked Twitter’s ability to show the pictures on its website.

The gist of the problem is that Instagram disabled Twitter cards, which is required to attach media to messages, Twitter explained. Essentially, people encountering the issue are seeing what’s referred to as a “pre-cards experience.” Ah, so why did Instagram revoke Twitter access in the first place? Is this some backstabbing outcome from the Facebook acquisition?

According to Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, not at all. Systrom apologetically admitted that it was a decision based on Instagram’s growing Web presence. The photo-centric social network is still focused on improving “the experience with Twitter and Instagram photos,” but for now, Systrom and his team want users to navigate directly to Instagram’s online emporium, because “the best experience is for [Instagram] to link back to where that content lives.”

So it sounds like, at least in the short-term, photos plugged on Instagram and shared through Twitter are going to look a bit off. Really, though, that’s probably fine and dandy as far as Twitter is concerned, and it’ll probably pay no mind seeing as it might be working on its own photo filters for the mobile experience.